In episode 7 of History for a Pilgrim People, Camden Bucey and Danny Olinger trace the young Presbyterian Church of America through the difficult years following the division of 1937. They begin with Charles Woodbridge’s brief service as general secretary for home and foreign missions and the extraordinary poverty endured by ministers and missionary families—sometimes receiving only 31 cents on the dollar and living on potatoes, apples, or unmarked “mystery cans.”
The conversation then turns to constitutional turmoil in the presbyteries of Chicago, Iowa, California, and the Dakotas; the Fourth General Assembly; the founding of the Machen League for covenant youth; and the Christian Reformed Church’s important gesture of fraternal recognition. Finally, they recount the 1938 court ruling that barred the denomination from using the name Presbyterian Church of America and the remarkable Fifth General Assembly of February 1939, when commissioners debated eleven proposals and took six ballots before adopting the name Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
Throughout the episode, Camden and Danny reflect on the humility, courage, and Christ-centered faithfulness of believers who accepted hardship without complaint and trusted the Lord to preserve and build his church.
Chapters
- 0:00 Introduction
- 2:57 Charles Woodbridge and the foreign missions committee
- 7:31 The Southern Presbyterian Church and the new denomination
- 11:36 A missions funding crisis: 31 cents on the dollar
- 16:15 Ed and Eleanor Kellogg’s “mystery cans”
- 19:44 Could an entire presbytery withdraw?
- 20:25 Chaos in Chicago, Iowa, and California
- 26:09 The Presbytery of the Dakotas
- 29:19 The Fourth General Assembly and church government
- 35:56 The Machen League for covenant youth
- 39:59 Fraternal relations with the Christian Reformed Church
- 41:47 The court ruling against the church’s name
- 44:25 A one-issue General Assembly to choose a new name
- 47:24 Eleven proposed names and the first ballots
- 49:18 California’s telegram and the Presbyterian Church of Christ
- 54:36 Dinner, coalition-building, and the final ballot
- 57:55 Why “Orthodox Presbyterian”?
- 62:49 Lessons from the church’s survival
- 63:03 Looking ahead to home and foreign missions
History for a Pilgrim People is a podcast of the Committee for the Historian of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.